The compounds according to the invention serve the treatment of acute and chronic ear disorders and hearing damages, vertigo and vestibular disorders, in particular acute hearing loss, acute acoustic trauma, explosion trauma, labyrinthine deafness due to chronic noise exposure, presbycusia, trauma during implantation of inner ear prosthesis (insertion trauma), vertigo due to diseases of the inner ear, vertigo in relation with and/or as a symptom of Menière's disease, vestibular disorders in relation with and/or as symptom of Menière's disease, tinnitus and hearing damages due to antibiotics and cytostatics.
Approximately 250 million people worldwide suffer from mild or severe hearing damages according to findings of the World Health Organisation (WHO). In the US, thirty to forty millions of people are affected by hearing damages and hearing losses. Costs of treatments account for approximately 50 billion USD annually for the US only. The German Society of People with Impaired Hearing reported for the year 2007 that approximately 19 percent of the German population above the age of 14 suffers from hearing impairments.
The percentage of people with impaired hearing is increasing with increasing age. Hearing impairments in people above the age of 65 come in fourth place of chronically physical impairments after diseases of bones and joints, hypertension and heart diseases. Thirty-seven percent of people between 60 and 69 and 54 percent of septuagenarians and older of the population are affected by hearing impairments. Approximately 12 to 15 millions patients suffer from labyrinthine deafness, and approximately 2.9 million patients suffer from tinnitus in the Federal Republic of Germany.
The term ‘Tinnitus aurium’ (Latin for ‘the ringing of the ears’) or tinnitus in its short form describes a symptom or syndrome, too, by which the affected person perceives noises that have no outer perceivable source for other persons. In contrast, the ‘objective tinnitus’ is based on an outer perceivable or, at least, measurable endogenous sound source. However, objective tinnitus is very rare compared to subjective tinnitus.
Tinnitus is an acoustic perception that is perceived by the patient independently from sounds acting on the ear. This perception is based on an impairment of hearing function of the labyrinth of the inner ear. Therefore, the auditory impression of tinnitus has nothing to do with the sound in the patient's environment. The types of apparent noises, which the patient perceives, are very multifaceted. One summarises the following acoustic impressions among others by the term ‘tinnitus’:                Buzzing and whistling noises        Sibilating        Random noise        Cracking or knocking        
The noise can be invariant in its intensity; it can have, however, a rhythmic pulsating character as well. There is not always a real noise, which causes the same acoustic impressions as does a tinnitus. One should clearly distinguish tinnitus from acoustic hallucinations, too.
Approximately 10 to 20 percent of the population are affected permanently by tinnitus; just fewer than 40 percent detect such an ear noise at least once in a lifetime. Approximately, a third of all elderly people states to perceive an ear noise all the time. The onset of the disease usually lies between the age of 40 to 50, wherein women and men are affected likewise. The number of patients with tinnitus has been rising in industrialised nations of the Western world in particular.
The present invention is based on the problem to provide drugs as well as pharmaceutical formulations, which are suitable for prophylaxis and treatment of hearing damages, presbycusia, vertigo, and vestibular disorders.
The technical teaching of the independent claims solves this problem. Further advantageous embodiments, aspects and details of the invention result from the dependent claims, the description and the examples.